On April 9, 1913, the Brooklyn Superbas fell to the Phillies by a score of 1-0 in the first regular-season game ever played at Ebbets Field. Courtesy of the April 10, 1913, edition of the Lewiston Evening Journal, here's the box score ...

(Aside: Yes, that's 22-year-old Casey Stengel batting leadoff and patrolling center for the Superbas.)

One hundred years later, Ebbets Field -- or, rather, the spectral presence of Ebbets Field (it was demolished in 1960 two years after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles) -- embodies baseball romanticism like almost nothing else.

Construction on the then-unnamed ballpark in Brooklyn broke ground on March 4, 1912, but official baseball first came to Ebbets 100 years ago Tuesday. So on this day we wish Ebbets Field a happy centennial.

Here's how SABR describes the features and comforts of Ebbets, which was state of the art by the standards of the day ...

The exterior featured a curved brick façade at the corner of Sullivan and Cedar streets highlighted by classical arched windows. Inside the main entrance was an ornate lobby with a domed ceiling that stood 27 feet high at its center. The terrazzo floor was tiled like the stitches of a baseball, and a chandelier with 12 baseball-bat arms holding 12 baseball-shaped globes hung from the ceiling. The double-tiered stands ran along the foul lines from the right-field corner to a bit beyond third base, where a single double-deck bleacher section extended to the left-field corner. At the time the park's dimensions were 419 feet to left field, 476 to dead center, 500 to right center, but, because of Bedford Avenue, only 301 feet to right field. [Charles] Ebbets installed two long benches at the back of the lower tier of the grandstand, one for himself and his friends and the other for the McKeevers and their friends. After Brooklyn victories the owners smilingly received the congratulations of their customers; after losses Ebbets and Steve McKeever, the older and more outgoing of the brothers, often engaged the fans in good-natured debates, loudly defending themselves and their players.

The recognized opening of Ebbets took place four days prior with an exhibition against the Yankees, but in this space we're partial to things that actually count in the standings. So April 9, 1913, it is.

Over the years, Ebbets would host, in addition to countless Dodgers games, college and professional football contests, soccer matches and prize fights. It remains at heart, though, a ballpark among all ballparks. How else to remember a structure that housed Jackie Robinson's first major-league game?

So as we raise a glass to this late great, let's have a quick walking tour (Getty Images) ...

An overhead shot of Ebbets in what was once known as the "Pigtown" section of Brooklyn. The image is dated November of 1957, which means the last baseball game at Ebbets had already been played.

Here's the iconic "curved brick facade" described above. Is there a more evocative example of baseball architecture? Indeed, there is not.

Inside the grounds. Seen above is Joe Adcock of the Braves in the midst of hitting a home run off Don Newcombe -- his third home run in the span of a doubleheader back in 1956.

Happy 100th, Ebbets Field. Baseball will never see your kind again.